Busy Bees

I know that I've said this before, but getting stuff done around the house is hard with 2 kids running around.  Really, really hard.  It also doesn't help that neither Josh or I are overly handy and really, neither one of us has a clue when it comes to landscaping, decorating, or really, organization in general - clearly not a good recipe for successful home ownership, but whatever - we'll blame everything that isn't done on the fact that we have 2 kids running around (Avery and Alex -don't take offense - we love you dearly, I promise). 

That said, as I mentioned before, we did manage to get a significant (according to the Holland definition of significant) amount done before Avery's party.  And, just to toot my own horn - I'm going to list our accomplishments...

1) Washed the windows.  This my friends, was no small task.  a) we have those grates on EVERY window, so it isn't just one fell swoop with the squeegie - it is 32 little ones.  b) I washed all windows the first time with the wrong type of squeegie and had to do it again because they still looked horrible.  I have learned a lesson, it is ALL in the squeegie - I highly recommend you invest in one.  Anyway - a little dawn dish detergent in a bucket of water and the right squeegie worked like a charm.  And, here is the result!  And, yes - I realize that you can't tell if this is clean or not and yes, I realize that it is a picture of a window,  but, for the full effect, I really wanted a picture of each thing that we did, so embrace the window...

Of course, I realized just now that I had to take a picture out the one window that clearly displays the fact that we are a bit challenged in the grass planting department.  It's the kids, I swear.

THEN, 2) I finally managed to get some flower pots AND, an added bonus, plant some flowers in the pots! 

3) purchased and hung some hanging plants, which have still managed to stay alive.  I don't know what my deal is, but I really can't get hanging plants to live any longer than a month or so.  I don't know if I over water?  under water?  But, regardless - they are currently thriving, so I must be doing something right this time around (note the 2 additional flower pots on this deck)...

4) fertilized the bushes that we planted last fall and as it turns out, it worked!  Look at this puppy...

We also did various things like 5) pick up sticks and 6) attempt to plant grass, but I don't have pictures of that stuff (so much for that "full effect" concept) so I will ask you to use your imagination here.

And, last but not least - the wall!!!  Yes, folks, I FINALLY got THE WALL done!  I can't tell you how many times I layed these pictures out on the floor and how many times I changed the layout and then, how long it took to finish it once I actually started hanging the pictures, but it is done!

Our new hutch is on the other side of the wall, but I forgot to take a picture of that.  And, really, I can't take much credit for it, as our good buddy Earle installed it, but I will take credit for FINALLY deciding what we wanted and purchasing it (which, given our lack of good home ownership traits as described above, is an accomplishment in and of itself).

I will say that it feels great to have gotten this stuff done.  I now feel like we can go into the summer a bit less stressed and we will be able to enjoy ourselves even more as a result.  Granted, we may be enjoying ourselves on a lawn 1/2 covered in grass, but whatever.  At least we have flower pots to look at...